Volcanic ash likely to impact T20 WC teams' travel plans

The Volcanic ash that has shut airspace in Europe might affect the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies as many of the competing teams would struggle to reach the Caribbean on scheduled time due to the grounding of international flights.

The Volcanic ash that has shut airspace in Europe might affect the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies as many of the competing teams would struggle to reach the Caribbean on scheduled time due to the grounding of international flights.

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England and Ireland will not travel unless the UK airspace opens up and other teams will also find it tough to reach on time as London is a major transit point.

An ECB spokesman told 'Cricinfo' "they are monitoring the situation and will make a decision in a few days time as to the arrangements for the team - who are due to leave next weekend - although there seem precious few alternatives with the nearby European airports such as Paris and Frankfurt also closed."

A lot of players are in India right for the Indian Premier League and with London being a transit point, there travel plans are also likely to be affected.

"India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are teams who will be likely to travel through London to West Indies next week, but the latest reports suggest the skies won't clear for at least a couple more days."

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are likely to fly directly to the Caribbean for the event scheduled April 28 to May 16.